A NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARD FINALIST
“The Alter sisters are mordant, wry, and crystalline in wit and vision; it is a tremendous pleasure to rocket through generations of their family histories with them.” —Lauren Groff, New York Timesbestselling author of Fates and Furies, The Monsters of Templeton, and Arcadia
In the waning days of 1999, the last of the Alters—three damaged but wisecracking sisters who share an apartment on Manhattan’s Upper West Side—decide it’s time to close the circle of the family curse by taking their own lives. But first, Lady, Vee, and Delph must explain the origins of that curse and how it has manifested throughout the preceding generations. Unspooling threads of history, personal memory, and family lore, they weave a mesmerizing account that stretches back a century to their great-grandfather, a brilliant scientist whose professional triumph became the terrible legacy that defines them. A suicide note crafted by three bright, funny women, A Reunion of Ghosts is the final chapter of a saga lifetimes in the making—one that is inexorably intertwined with the story of the twentieth century itself.
“Mitchell explores the mixed-blessing bonds of family with wry wit. This original tale is black comedy at its best.”—People Book of the Week
“A rich portrait of a complicated family, at turns violent and hilarious.”—Emma Straub, New York Timesbestselling author
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“Kirsten Potter captures the Alter sisters in this skillfully written, quick-witted novel. With her well-modulated tones and even pacing, Potter’s portrayals of sisters Lady, Vee, and Delph Alter, with their tight family bond and inherited guilt, are distinctive and energetic…William Charlton delivers the final section, from the point of view of Danny Smoke, the Alter sisters’ cousin…With engaging narrators and an intriguing story, listeners will be spellbound to the very end. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.”
— AudioFile
“A rich portrait of a complicated family, at turns violent and hilarious, shot through with love and death and the scars that reappear generation after generation.”
— Emma Straub, New York Times bestselling author“Mitchell explores the mixed-blessing bonds of family with wry wit. This original tale is black comedy at its best.”
— People“Mitchell’s splendidly dark and comic novel…is a very funny book but it is also tender, somber, and thought provoking.”
— Financial Times (London)“Mitchell’s plot, which twists in unexpected but believable ways…is thoroughly satisfying, but it’s the tone of her novel—that ability to savor joy and sorrow at the same time—that makes it remarkable.”
— Columbus Dispatch“Mitchell’s triumphant second novel explores love, identity, and the burdens of history in coruscating, darkly comic prose…Moving nimbly through time and balancing her weightier themes with the sharply funny, fiercely unsentimental perspectives of her three protagonists…[this novel is] poignant and pulsing with life force.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review)“Mitchell’s masterful family saga is as funny as it is aching…For the Alters, life has been a seemingly endless series of tragedies; for us, the tragedy is that this stunning novel inevitably comes to an end.”
— Kirkus Reviews (starred review)“An engrossing, darkly humorous story with thought-provoking themes that will linger after the last page is turned.”
— BookPage“Mitchell presents the sisters sympathetically in this clever, modern tale that somehow also hearkens back to Albert Einstein, Walt Whitman, and a host of unusual, lively memorable characters…This serious study of a very odd family has its darkly humorous side.”
— Library Journal“Mitchell has created a family drowning under the weight of the twentieth century. Inspired in part by the life of German chemist Fritz Haber, this novel is a carefully crafted, thought-provoking examination of history past and present as seen through the eyes of a complex yet humble family.”
— BooklistBe the first to write a review about this audiobook!
Judith Claire Mitchell, author of the novel The Last Day of the War, is an English professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where she directs the MFA program in creative writing. A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, Judy has received fellowships from the James A. Michener / Copernicus Society, the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing, the Wisconsin Arts Board, and elsewhere. She lives in Madison, Wisconsin, with her husband, the artist Don Friedlich.
Kirsten Potter has won several awards, including more than a dozen AudioFile Earphones Awards and been a three-time finalist for the prestigious Audie Award for best narration. Her work has been recognized by the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts and by AudioFile magazine, among many others. She graduated with highest honors from Boston University and has performed on stage and in film and television, including roles on Medium, Bones, and Judging Amy.
Kirsten Potter has won several awards, including more than a dozen AudioFile Earphones Awards and been a three-time finalist for the prestigious Audie Award for best narration. Her work has been recognized by the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts and by AudioFile magazine, among many others. She graduated with highest honors from Boston University and has performed on stage and in film and television, including roles on Medium, Bones, and Judging Amy.